Transcript
Introduction
Has your Instagram engagement recently decreased, but you're not exactly sure why? I'm Christine from Later, and welcome to Later's YouTube Channel. Today, we're going to share some ways you can level up your Instagram strategy and increase your Instagram engagement.
If you're looking for a full list of ways to increase your Instagram engagement, you can check out our blog post linked in the description below. And don't forget to subscribe to our channel so that you don't miss out on the latest social media tips and tricks. Let's get into it.
Tip #1: Discover your Best Time to Post
By posting when your followers are most active, you'll have a better chance of getting likes and comments for your content, which is the best way to hack the algorithm and increase your reach.
But how do you know when your best time to post really is? Well, you can check out Instagram's built-in Analytics, or use a tool like Later, which automatically calculates your Best Time to Post based on your own unique data and based on your own historical interactions. You can learn more about this handy little feature in the description below.
Tip #2: Regularly test and analyze new content types
Some of the best content on Instagram comes from experimentation. We regularly try to experiment with new formats on Later's Instagram channel.
From different types of formats of Reels, memes, Stories content... You never know what might actually land with your audience if you haven't tried it.
Make note of key holidays, product releases, announcements, campaigns, and frequently asked questions that could inform your content strategy.
Test new content types: memes, quotes, user-generated content, mini infographics, or even a selfie-style video could be great on your grid or Stories.
Test out different Instagram Story styles and see if they improve your engagement. For example, you can try an Ask Me Anything session or do a weekly roundup.
The most important part about testing different content types is to make sure that you are checking your Analytics. With Later's Instagram Analytics, you can see how your posts perform over time and keep track of metrics like your comments, your likes, and engagement rate. You can even view your Instagram Stories’ Analytics and track up to three months' worth of content. To learn more about this feature, just check out the description below.
Tip #3: Write longer captions
Did you know that your Instagram caption can be up to 2200 characters long? That is a whole lot of space to share with your audience, and a lot of us are not using it.
We recently teamed up with influencer marketing platform Fohr to break down the numbers and determine how much your Instagram caption length actually impacted engagement. According to Fohr, the average caption length has more than doubled since 2016, and those with longer captions get the most engagement.
On Later's Instagram feed, we like to regularly test longer-form captions. We found that our longer captions helped act as a teaser to some of our blog posts, which encourages our audience to click the link in our bio to learn more.
Now, we are not saying that every caption has to be thousands of words long, but even writing a full sentence instead of just a few emojis could help you increase your Instagram engagement. Try it out.
Tip #4: Open up about your brand and business
The power of authenticity on Instagram is huge. We're seeing a ton of brands and businesses showing a more honest, real and vulnerable side to their brand and business. And we are here for it.
...Sorry, the big fly just blew right across. I'm just going to start that part again. It's a fat fly, okay?
The power of authenticity on Instagram is huge. We're seeing a ton of brands and businesses showing a more honest, real and vulnerable side to their brand and business. And we're here for it.
One of our favourite content creators, Sarah Nicole of The Birds Papaya, naturally integrates longer-form captions into her Instagram feed. She recently joined us at our annual social media conference, LaterCon and, shared her top tips on how to be more authentic on Instagram. I'll link the video in the description below if you want to give it a watch.
Microblogging and captions have really paid off for Sarah. In under two years, her Instagram account has grown from 70,000 to almost 2 million followers. That's pretty incredible.
Brands are also jumping on board with this trend. We're seeing more businesses talk about their company mission, their struggles, and why they do what they do. Sharing more with your followers will definitely help increase your Instagram engagement. Okay.
Tip #6: Create more video content
With the introduction of Instagram Reels, video content is experiencing a huge surge right now. So, if your strategy includes video content, you're almost guaranteed to increase your reach.
Reels are a great way to engage with your Instagram community and reach a wider audience. In fact, they are a real growth hack right now. And don't forget that they are designed to be fast and fun too, so you don't need to have a high production value for them. And if you need some Instagram Reels ideas, I'll link our blog post on “15 Instagram Reels Ideas You Can Use for your Brand or Business” in the description below.
So, there's no denying that Instagram can be a very competitive place and it can be really frustrating when you feel like your content isn't being seen. But there are still a ton of ways that you can try and increase your Instagram engagement.
Check out the link in the description below for a blog that covers even more ways to increase your engagement. And if you haven't already, hit that Subscribe button so that you can stay up to date with all of our videos.
Thank you so much for watching. I'll see you later.
